Ridley Scott Called His New Movie ‘The Dog Stars’ His Best in a Decade; Critics Feel Very Differently

Ridley Scott has never been shy about confidence in his own work, and at 88 years old, he shows no signs of slowing down that instinct. His latest release finds him returning to the sci-fi genre that first defined his career decades ago, adapting Peter Heller’s 2012 post-apocalyptic novel ‘The Dog Stars’ into a big-screen survival story starring Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin.

Ahead of the film’s release, Scott made a bold claim about where it ranks in his own filmography. Speaking to The Buyer, he declared, “It’s probably the best movie I’ve done since The Martian,” a statement that places ‘The Dog Stars’ above an impressive stretch of his recent work, including ‘Gladiator II,’ ‘Napoleon,’ ‘The Last Duel,’ and ‘House of Gucci.’ Scott also praised his leading man during the same conversation, predicting, “This guy Jacob Elordi, who’s in it, is going to be a big star. He’s a farm lad from Australia, so he and I got on great.”

Now that reviews have arrived ahead of the film’s August 28 release, critics appear to disagree sharply with Scott’s own assessment. As of the most recent tally, ‘The Dog Stars’ sits at 39 percent on Rotten Tomatoes based on 54 reviews, placing it among the weakest-reviewed films of Scott’s entire directing career.

The film’s Tomatometer score moved considerably as more reviews came in throughout the review embargo lift. Early tallies had the film as low as 30 percent based on just 10 reviews, according to Collider, before climbing into the low-to-mid 40s as additional critics weighed in. Regardless of exactly where the number settles, multiple outlets have noted the film ranks as one of Scott’s lowest-scored projects of the 2020s, sitting just above 2005’s ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ on his all-time list.

World of Reel’s review captured much of the critical frustration directly, describing the film as “too slow and uneventful for an action thriller, but also not deep enough to justify its deliberate pace,” and calling it “just plain boring, with underdeveloped characters and a story that feels derivative rather than fresh.” The outlet also pointed to 20th Century Studios’ choice to release the film during the final week of August, historically treated as a dumping ground before fall’s award-season contenders arrive, as a possible signal of the studio’s own confidence level.

Set in post-pandemic Colorado, ‘The Dog Stars’ follows Hig, played by Elordi, a pilot living a solitary existence alongside his dog and a gruff survivalist named Bangley, played by Brolin. Their fragile routine is disrupted when Hig intercepts a mysterious radio transmission, sending him on a journey to track down its source and, potentially, evidence that humanity’s better instincts have survived alongside its worst ones.

The film also stars Margaret Qualley, Allison Janney, Guy Pearce, and Benedict Wong, with a screenplay from Mark L. Smith based on Heller’s bestselling novel. Despite the rocky critical reception, some early reactions have been more forgiving, with one Letterboxd review from an early premiere screening calling the film “a stunning, contemplative breath of fresh air” compared to louder genre entries.

With critics and audiences now able to judge for themselves once the film opens Thursday, the gap between Scott’s own sky-high expectations and the reviews rolling in adds an extra layer of scrutiny to an already unpredictable late-summer release. Whether ‘The Dog Stars’ finds its audience despite the reviews may ultimately depend on how much weight moviegoers put in Scott’s own word over the critics’.

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